Yesterday I finished a challenge to read through the Bible in 90 days. The only problem was that I took more than 90 days to finish the plan. It took exactly 6 months to the day, which is kind of cool, but the goal was 90 days.
Last September the pastor at my church in Shawnee told us about this challenge and I was eager to accept. I had never read the Bible all the way through like that, but was looking for something like that to do.
The plan was called the 66-45-90 challenge. By reading about 45 minutes a day, for 90 days, we were going to read the entire Bible. It was going to be a challenge, but I wanted to see what God was going to show me.
The first two weeks started off great! I was reading every morning before school and was learning new things daily. Then I got behind. I missed one day, so I would double up the next day. A few days later I might not read all that I was supposed to, and before I knew it I was weeks behind.
When it came to the point where I was not going to be able to finish in 90 days I wanted to give up. It would be easy to say, "Well, I tried. Maybe next time." While I knew I had no shot to finish it in the scheduled time, I wanted to finish it, so I pushed onward.
When I finished yesterday it felt so good! Even though I had failed and it had taken me twice as long, I had completed what I set out to do. It was so rewarding! God showed me so much in the last six months. I was able to put events and things together and see the whole picture. He taught me so much!
One of the things that stuck out to me about the Old Testament was how the Israelites just did not get it. They strayed far away from God, by sinning and chasing after idols, but God was patient. He always called his people back to himself and gave them so many chances. There is no limit to his grace and mercy. He saw how horrible mankind was, and new how evil we would be, and chose to send his son anyways. There is no greater love. There is no one as faithful as the Lord.
In this study I found success in failure. Where I failed, Christ succeeded. When I grew frustrated and felt like I wasn't learning anything; he would show me something new. Even though we fail time and time again, He will never fall short. Isn't it awesome to know that He promises to always be there?
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Thanks for sharing this. Congratulations on finishing the challenge!! As soon as I started reading the post, I was flooded with memories of a great discussion on a Singapore metro. :) Thanks for your Bible-reading encouragement during the trip ... I got behind in Jakarta, and I'm working on catching up. So your post was pretty timely!
ReplyDeleteI agree with how reading through faster than normal gives a different look at the "big picture." I just finished 1 Samuel, and am intrigued by the Isrealites' ups and downs since Joshua died. God is so faithful when we are not.